Apocalyptic Survival Fiction

Gayler's worldbuilding is spellbinding...Booklife Prize The world belongs to the Neon God now. And it won’t let go.Across the globe, computers and phones ignite with an eerie neon glow, enslaving billions in an unbreakable trance. As civilization crumbles, four survivors must navigate a world ruled by a sentient, all-powerful AI—one that refuses to let humanity go. Jessie Aguilar has spent years underground, haunted by the horrors she witnessed. Now, driven by vengeance and aided by a rogue computer system, she plays a dangerous game against an intelligence that sees everything. Mason, ...

The world has become a dangerous place for Shane McDonald and his family since the solar storm wiped out the power grid. Tensions flare when it grows clear the dire situation will be prolonged and most are ill-prepared. Even the friendly small town of his prepper mother-in-law has drawn unwanted attention as word gets around about sharing their supply stores. And strangers begin to infiltrate the once peaceful Georgia community.

In the wake of an unprecedented meteorite strike, chaos reigns as survivors grapple with devastation unlike anything seen before. Anchorman Nick Alvarez faces the daunting challenge of finding his way home to his family in Louisville, while his wife Chris battles desperate circumstances on the farm, balancing survival with the urgent need for medical aid. Their rebellious daughter, Gabby, finds herself entwined in a world of trauma at a FEMA camp, where she becomes a beacon of resilience—and a target for danger.

The Bartlett family had to make an incomprehensible decision. The age old question, should we stay or should we go? The answer lay many thousands of miles from home on the opposite side of the Earth. The journey was filled with perils, and the last port of call may not be as welcoming as they hoped.

Triumph can turn to despair in an instant in this post-apocalyptic world. Dom and the others learn that the hard way after they celebrate finding water. Now they face a new threat from a powerful group who inexplicably have working trucks. Dom and the others are outnumbered. He has no choice but to relinquish their water supply. But that’s not the only setback he’ll face. When Willie falls ill with no medication, Dom must strike a hard bargain to save him. Inner turmoil threatens their resolve and leaves him with no good options. He must find allies, but can he trust them? Will he ever ...

One of the greatest threats to mankind's existence has become a reality. The Yellowstone Caldera erupts with a force of a thousand nuclear warheads, expelling seven hundred cubic miles of ash and rock all at once into the sky. And it's not finished . . .

The skies darkened and the temperatures dropped. Intense firestorms spread across the Earth at each point where the bombs detonated. Fallen trees and homes had become the perfect kindling. Oil and natural gas reserves together with coal seams and peat bogs smoldered for many months. From the initial firestorm and the spread of smoke to the destruction of the Earth's ecosystem, all living things were beginning to perish.

A man and his brother escape to a rural retreat when disaster strikes America.

For a brief period after the world changed forever, the self-reliant community of Trout Run Valley managed to avoid conflict. They practiced subsistence, and found safety and security within their numbers. As the post-apocalyptic timeline moved forward, it began to spiral downward. Takers had made their presence known, and their malevolent intentions clear, transforming the once benign community into a violent battleground.

Go-getting twenty-six-year-old investigative journalist Cassandra Drews just wants her miserable day to end. And desperate to put her breakup behind her, she agrees to one last face-to-face to return belongings to her ex. But when they're nearly killed by an out-of-control car, she's horrified when the nightmare of her relationship takes a backseat to an eruption of violence. In the blink of an eye, an EMP attack wipes out the nation's power and the world grinds to a stop. Surrounded by chaos, Cass is torn between tending to the injured or escaping her seething ex.

Three people from different walks of life each experience the end of America. Cassy is a 33-year-old prepper and single mother, away on business. Ethan is a hacker and conspiracy nut living underground. Frank is a family man out camping with friends and family. When a devastating EMP attack in the middle of the night destroys America's infrastructure, they are propelled on an unforgettable journey across an ocean of chaos to reach safety...Safety from an unknown invader and from once-fellow Americans now hungry and desperate.

My name is Frank Moon, and I’m in way over my head. We’ve settled in Sanctuary, a neighborhood on the edge of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Having endured gut-wrenching emotional trials and hordes of inhuman enemies, I’ve rapidly become the leader of a small, yet ever-growing, community of survivors. With supplies thinning, I reluctantly agree to return to town for the first time in weeks. My wife and I run into more than just a multitude of murderous monsters. We’re forced into a war between two well-armed human factions. One of the parties is hellbent on claiming Gatlinburg for ...

Pilgrimage is a stand-alone post-apocalyptic story of survival. It was previously published as three separate novellas: Crossing, Refuge, and Advent. High School teacher James Rockwell is vacationing in Maine with his family, when an earth-changing explosion sends them on a race for their lives. Their first step is escaping an island in the midst of a tsunami, and it only gets more dangerous from there. Can they find their way home as civilization crumbles around them? And if they do, what horrors will they find?

When Abram Patterson learns about an impending solar flare, every moment matters. Loaded up in his trusty 1976 Land Cruiser, he must get his wife and daughter from their home in New Hampshire to their remote retreat in Central Vermont. Nick Caulfield, a single father of two, is always in work mode. But when the country is on the brink of collapse, he must focus on getting his children to safety. His neighbor, Abram, has left in a hurry, and he quickly realizes that the region will soon be plunged into chaos.

After an EMP obliterates the nation's electrical grid on New Year's Eve, it's not long before society unravels and panic ensues. As the lights go out and silence spreads over the city that never sleeps, four ordinary strangers - a bike messenger, a homeless person, a support rep, and an ex-convict - must forge a connection in order to stay alive. When they realize the danger is far greater than they expected, they must embark on a perilous journey out of the city.

Matilda and Olga have had a glimpse of life inside the asylum. The suffering, the torture, the descent into madness. With Grandfather Jacks now dead at their hands, they have a chance to get as far away from the place as possible, but they have to go back; not only is their friend Dianna still locked up in the dark building, but many other innocent women and children are entrapped inside the hellish institution.

Laurel is stabilizing a patient in the ER when the power goes out. As she struggles to keep her patients alive, she faces an ugly truth—the world as everyone knew it is over. The smart thing to do is run and try to survive, but Laurel refuses to leave her patients behind—least of all her sick mother. There’s only one choice to make. She’ll have to stay and fight.

Laurel and her husband Bear are finally reunited. But South Minneha Hospital is no longer the haven it once was. Together, they leave the hospital behind to take on a new quest: find their daughter, Mae.

We are entering another ice age. In less than a year, my brother and I will freeze to death, unless we starve first. Experts have created biodomes, built tunnels, and rationed food and fuel to make the end more tolerable, for a bit. When Lon of planet Kaipra contacts me, claiming he has the key to our survival, I have to listen. He’ll help humans survive the ice age, but at the ultimate cost—I must agree to leave my brother, my friends, and the entire planet I call home to travel across the galaxy with him. Can I trust him? What are his plans with me? And do I even have a choice? ...

Do they dare to save a dying city? New York is hopeless. When the Ebola epidemic broke out, the Calm Act sealed the city behind armed borders. Otherwise contagious refugees could flee and devastate the Northeast. The survivors outside struggle to make ends meet in a chaotic climate and collapsed economy. They’re grateful for protection from the epidemic. But they feel guilty as sin. The agony of New York weighs on the regional conscience. Tech whisperer Dee Baker, and her partner Army Major Emmett MacLaren, propose a plan to save the city. Dee leads the Amenac Internet empire, bypassing ...